Written Answers

Monday 10 April 2000

Scottish Executive

Children's Panels

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current tenure of office is for Children’s Panel area chairpersons.

Peter Peacock: There is no set term for the appointment of Children’s Panel Chairmen. They may be appointed from one to five years with further periods of appointment as an option. The Scottish Executive takes advice from the relevant Children’s Panel Advisory Committee on the proposed period of appointment.

Children's Panels

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to appoint new Children’s Panel area chairpersons.

Peter Peacock: Chairmen of Children’s Panels are appointed to 15 May of any given year. New or further appointments will, where appropriate, be made to take effect from 16 May. Appointment letters are issued once advice from the relevant Children’s Panel Advisory Committee has been considered.

Children's Panels

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether resource issues are taking precedence over decisions of the Children’s Panel in any local authority areas.

Peter Peacock: Any decision of a Children’s Hearing is taken in the best interests of the child. Implementation is a matter for the relevant local authority.

Children's Panels

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to monitor the action actually taken as a result of Children’s Panel Decisions and compare such action with the action recommended by the panel.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive has commissioned research into home supervision requirements made by hearings. This research compares between the decision of the hearing with the action undertaken by the local authority.

Children's Panels

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what recourse the Children’s Panel has to ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to the required areas to ensure that panel decisions are implemented.

Peter Peacock: The statutory duty to give effect to hearings’ decisions rests with the relevant local authority in terms of section 71 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The allocation of resources to comply with this duty is for the local authority to determine. Panel members and the Panel Chairman may make representations to the local authority over resource allocation.

Employment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Linlithgow, Livingston and Edinburgh West constituencies since May 1999, listed by company.

Henry McLeish: The Executive is aware that approximately 2,240 job losses have been announced as follows:

  


Levi Strauss

  

586

  



Grampian 

  Country Pork

  

100

  



Seiko Instruments

  

100

  



Flexco Packaging

  

13

  



Russell 

  Europe

  

100

  



Grampian 

  Country Food

  

540

  



Continental 

  Tyres

  

800

  



  In addition, DAKS Simpson has announced 628 redundancies over two sites, only one of which is in the constituency. The numbers for each site are not yet confirmed.

Employment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many announcements involving new jobs in the Linlithgow, Livingston and Edinburgh West constituencies it has been involved in since May 1999, listed in date order; how many jobs each announcement referred to, and by what date the jobs in each announcement were expected to be filled at the time of the announcement.

Henry McLeish: The Executive has been involved with the announcements of approximately 2,920 new jobs.

  


Date of 

  announcement

  

Company

  

No 

  of jobs

  

Date 

  expected to be filled

  



5 July 1999

  

BSkyB

  

300

  

Not 

  announced

  



31 August 

  1999

  

Quintiles 

  Scotland Ltd

  

1,500

  

2005

  



30 September 

  1999

  

Motorola 

  Corporation

  

1,000

  

2001

  



19 November 

  1999

  

Emfinance.com

  

80

  

Not 

  announced

  



20 January 

  2000

  

Agilent 

  Technologies Inc

  

40

  

2002

Employment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken or is intending to take in the light of the announcement of job losses at DAKS Simpson.

Henry McLeish: I met local MSPs on 30 March to discuss action following the company’s announcement. The Executive and its agencies will maintain the close contact it has had with the company since Marks and Spencer’s decision to terminate its contracts with the company last October. Officials visited the company on 28 March to discuss support and also I intend to visit in the next few weeks. Action from the Executive will focus on helping those made redundant find new jobs and, as required by the company, providing training programmes for those who will remain. We shall ensure that such support is being provided in accordance with the principles set out in our PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) document last month.

Employment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4840 by Henry McLeish on 8 March 2000, what progress is being made in addressing the recently announced job losses at Grampian Foods.

Henry McLeish: The Executive and its agencies have remained in close contact with the company since this announcement. Local agencies are currently working on plans to help those affected but these can only be put into effect once negotiations between the company and unions on the redundancies have been completed.

Genetically Modified Crops

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is under any legal obligation to licence (a) field trials and (b) farm scale trials of genetically modified crops.

Ross Finnie: My response to question S1W-5609 set out the obligations, placed on the Scottish Executive by governing European and domestic law, to licence trials of genetically modified crops.

Genetically Modified Crops

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to make public, and place copies in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, the results of the tests, conducted both in the laboratory and on controlled sites, on the crops to be used in the farm scale trials in Aberdeenshire.

Ross Finnie: The independent scientific assessment of the genetically modified oil seed rape crop to be used in the Aberdeenshire farm scale evaluation is on the public register held by the Joint Regulatory Authority and has also been placed on the Scottish Executive’s GM website.

  This can be accessed via www.scotland.gov.uk/gm.

Knowledge Economy

Allan Wilson (Cunninghame North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what lessons have been learned about effective and ineffective forms of collaboration with Her Majesty's Government from progress to date with the cross-cutting knowledge economy agenda.

Henry McLeish: The first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee on the Knowledge Economy, chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and attended by the First Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland, was both useful and productive. It identified a number of potential opportunities where joint activity and sharing information would be effective in allowing each administration to meet its objectives.

Local Government

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities will be exempted from the terms of the Competition Act 1998.

Mr Frank McAveety: Competition is a reserved matter. Our understanding is that some of the activities of local authorities will fall within the scope of the Competition Act 1998, and that this is a matter for the Office of Fair Trading.

Local Government

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be represented at the conferences on "Joining Up Local Government" and "Housing Benefit Fraud" in London, to be held on 11 and 14 April respectively, and whether it will provide reports on these conferences.

Mr Frank McAveety: No.

Ministry of Defence

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what charges are levied on the Ministry of Defence in connection with military bases or exercises by the Scottish Executive, local authorities or other Scottish public bodies.

Henry McLeish: This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Executive.

Performance and Innovation Unit

Allan Wilson (Cunninghame North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been consulted by the Cabinet Office’s Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) about the implications for devolved matters of the PIU’s objectives.

Mr Jack McConnell: The remit of the PIU does not extend to devolved issues in Scotland. There is regular contact between the Executive and the PIU to share experience and discuss issues in which there is a common interest.

Roads

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the A98 has been detrunked.

Sarah Boyack: The reason for detrunking the A98 was given in the consultation document Local Government Reform – Shaping the Trunk Road Network which was published in October 1994. Given the generally local nature of trips on the A98 between Fraserburgh and the A96 at Fochabers, the coastal route was removed from the national trunk road network.

Schools

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it recognises difficulties which local authorities can face in developing Public Private Partnerships for improvements to rural schools and whether it is taking any steps to address this situation.

Peter Peacock: Public Private Partnerships can provide an appropriate means of securing improvements in the school stock across a range of circumstances. Such partnerships will not, however, necessarily be suitable in all situations, and local authorities continue to have substantial resources available to them under the traditional capital allocation arrangements. The suitability or otherwise of Public Private Partnerships will be influenced by a number of factors relevant to particular proposals and geographical considerations need not be dominant. Public Private Partnership proposals involving a number of schools in rural areas are currently being progressed. We continue to work with authorities to support their consideration of Public Private Partnerships where they express interest in taking them forward.

Scottish Executive Staff

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that all members of its workforce have access to an occupational health service staffed by nurses who are appropriately trained and qualified.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive has a contract with Lothian Health Occupational Health Services to provide all occupational health support for its employees. In addition, the Executive runs an annual programme of occupational health promotion activity (e.g. Well Woman clinics) and is presently in the process of applying for accreditation under the Scotland’s Health at Work Scheme which recognises employers who attain the highest standards of occupational health promotion.

Section 2A

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the working group to provide reassurance about the proposed repeal of section 2A has completed its consideration of the package of safeguards and whether its report will be made public.

Mr Sam Galbraith: I am pleased to be able to report that the working group has completed its consideration of the scope of the package of safeguards. It has concluded that the package of safeguards is sufficiently complete, wide-ranging and robust. The working group took account of existing good practice in Scottish schools, the professional judgement of teachers, the quality assurance systems used in schools and authorities, and the awareness and involvement of parents. This has already ensured that inappropriate teaching or use of inappropriate materials has been prevented. I have noted the reservation of the representative of the Catholic Education Commission that the new section in the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. Bill does not mention marriage.

  I am grateful to the group for completing its first task so quickly. The group will now continue with its remaining work. This will include the preparation of: summary guidance for teachers on the available curriculum advice and materials; advice to schools and teachers on effective consultation with parents; and a national package of information for parents on the nature and purpose of sex education in Scottish schools. Drafts of these materials will be issued for consultation.

  A copy of the report has been made available to all MSPs and can be found in SPICe.

Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations were made to the Ministry of Defence regarding the purchase of Stornaway Airport by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. (HIAL) and whether additional funding will be made available to HIAL to cover the cost of purchase.

Sarah Boyack: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is required to seek open market value for property disposals, including to public sector bodies. Officials from the Scottish Executive and Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) have met their counterparts in MOD’s Defence Estates Organisation to secure the continued provision of airport infrastructure for essential air links. The purchase of Stornoway Airport by HIAL represents the best deal achievable and secures the public interest. The transfer cost was met from HIAL’s resources in 1999-2000.